That's good news!

You know, that my readers haven't flat-lined on me completely.  There are a few dedicated souls out there who are apparently still checking in here despite my spotty posting.  Thank-you!

The weather, the job, and the heating bills have all been somewhat trying recently.  Add to that a perpetually busy toddler to keep up with, a new chiropractor, who I love, but who has me on a new and less satisfying workout routine, a mid-winter attack of the blues, I've had less time and/or been less enthused about writing.

*le sigh*

I'll get back into gear.  I will.  And on the bright side, I'm still very much enjoying my camera.  I've manages to take photos daily.  And only a couple of those days have I felt less than fully satisfied with what I've taken.
I think, because, I'm not feeling too chatty, I'll share some of the photos I've taken over the the last little bit.

Here Mozart is checking in with Santa, thanking him for the Fire Truck, and telling him he is too big to eat cookies.


And here, he is taking on the world - or at least the biggest train show in the country.


While I am SO over the cold, I'm pretty glad to have gotten this cracked bubble at 16 below.


I had intended on posting more, but it turns out my Chromebook doesn't want to upload photos right now, and Flickr doesn't allow copying photos, which I suppose is a good thing.  But you can go to my Flickr site and look at them for yourself.

Yeah, and these little square things - they are my attempt to upload photos.  I can't seem to erase them now that they are there.  Maybe they'll show up later.  Maybe just funky little squares forever...

Good Morning Nemo...

So when I told Mozart that Nemo was coming, he had a hard time believing me.  Even when I explained that in this case, Nemo is a bunch of snow, he still did not believe me.  And I have to say, that I was doubtful at that point myself - the forecast said we'd start to see action at 3am and this photo was taken around noon.

But, oh, by the afternoon it was coming down at a regular clip, and by morning, we were looking at a different view from the window!   
But that doesn't do the scene justice. This will give you a better idea: 
Yes, friends, that is our driveway.  With our two cars that we have since dug out.  It's nice you can see the cars from this view.  In the digging out process, I found that the other side of the cars were completely covered.   Note that Mozart is looking very small in relation. That photo is about an hour into our shoveling.  We are blessed to have some anonymous snow blower-wielding neighbor who went down our front walk.  By the time we dug our way to the walk, we were even more grateful.  Mozart was all rosie-cheeked, as were we, when we got to the walk, but there was still a LOT to do.  Even so, with nearly all the neighbors out working, the whole thing was rather communal feeling.  Just then, another neighbor came out onto his porch for the first time and seeing the sheer amount of snow gave this somewhat maniacal laugh, in what I believe was a mixture of disbelief, wonder and defeat all at once.  Even though our muscle's ached and we had more than half of our work to go, it had us all laughing!  

The side walk below was even deeper than the driveway.  In the driveway it took four shovels full of snow to make a foot's worth of progress.  On the side walk it took SIX shovels full of snow.  And, the 5th and 6th shovels were very packed and heavy.  Mozart and I made a path down the side walk, and the boys helping the neighbor met us, cutting our work down (blessedly).  But since the pathway was only one shovel's width, we caved and hired another neighborhood boy with a snow blower to make the sidewalk wide enough and clean up the end of our driveway a bit more.  Our town's codes say we need to have the walks clear enough for a wheelchair to pass, and that just wasn't going to cut it.  I say, that was a well-spent $20!

Most grateful...

...to Cake Master for her delivery of a space heater and a wonderful care package!!  I was certainly not looking for handouts (sympathy and outrage, sure...) in that last post about our financial/heating woes , but that was the most thoughtful gesture! Thank-you!!

And boy are we using the whole mess of kindness today!!  Mozart was sent home from daycare today with a fever, so I left work in a rush and scooped him up to come home to - wait for it - 45 degrees again. *sigh*

But, the heat is on again and while the rest of the house is still very cold, the living room, where we are watching a riveting video of Thomas the Tank Engine, is bearable.  And by the time the Wife gets home, dinner is ready, and I head back to work to wrap things up before a big meeting tomorrow, we'll be at our balmy 57 once again...

Staying positive in the money sink.

I guess that title isn't very positive.  I'd like to just stay positive with the bumps, but right now it feels like this house is just one big money sink.  Every year we debate about which repairs we may or may not be able to make.  Every year we go with the one(s) that are most pressing.  This year that was, clearly, the roof.  It should have been the roof, the water heater, and insulation, but hey, we got one of them done.  Along with another bill that needs to be paid each month.  And a new-to-me car, which we sorely needed, but also - another bill.  Yesterday we got the oil bill.  Before I tell you how much the bill was, I want you to know that we keep our house at 57 degrees.  That is, 57 degrees when we are home and awake.  55 degrees when we are asleep.  And 50 degrees when we go to work or will be away for more than a couple hours.  We wear a lot of sweaters around here.  We have the 3rd floor, the guest room, and the dressing room (can you say brrr?) closed off so that no heat needlessly escapes into unoccupied areas.  We try to keep active when we are home so the chill doesn't set in.  We keep blankets and extra sweaters on hand when we have guests. So with all of that, you'd think we'd be saving bucket-loads of money on our heating bill, right?

$907.81  That's right, for one month of heat - if you can call it that, cuz right now, and I sit here my nose is cold...

So you've heard about the recent cuts to the phone, etc, but with those oil prices and our paper-thin walls...  I am looking into part-time work.  Scoring tests, data analysis, other things that I can do from home or have a very flexible schedule/availability.  One application out already.  I'm hopeful.

What I want to know is how on earth are other people making it?  We may have a money-sink for a house, but lots of people do.  And we are both gainfully employed.  Securely in the middle class, but in months like this (it's gonna be a long one, I can tell), it sure doesn't feel like it.

I'll try a make a more uplifting post tomorrow or later on.

Where's the app for that?

On Wednesday Mozart and I came home to a house maintaining a frigid 45 degrees.  I was not happy.  I knew what had happened - well, sort of - the water went down on the boiler and it went off while we were at work.  It's easily fixed in the short run.  Just go down and add more water.  But you can never tell when it will happen next.  

This has happened on and off since we bought the house.  We've had the professionals come and look at it and, previously, were that we just need to keep an eye on it, add water every couple of weeks (more in the winter) and everything is normal.  Well, guess what folks?  It's no longer normal.  Something is very, very wrong.  My educated guess says it's actually the water heater - seeing as there are rivulets of water coming out of it.  But that doesn't explain how the water in the boiler goes down.  And as long as it keeps turning back on, we really just need to watch it and hope for the best.  After the new roof and new-to-me car, there is no room in the budget for any additional bills.  Grrr. Or should I say, Brrrr.

Because it happened again last night when we were sleeping.  We typically keep it quite chill in the house and I where plenty of layers and warm things, so I didn't wake up (maybe I should rethink this?) until the usual time, but when I put my glasses on they fogged up.  THAT's not a good sign.  I found my slippers, checked the thermostat (it was 41 - yeah, brrrrrrr!) and got the boiler to work again.  Got Mozart up and dressed, put extra layers on him as we left his heated room, and got him out the door with a hastily-put-together Wife (no heat means no shower unless you want to do it African Bath style, but that take bravery and/or planning). 

I have switched last night's laundry to the dryer, put a new load in - and I know the boiler is doing it's job because the "cool" water was feeling downright warm on my frigid fingers - and now I sit with a heating pad for the time being.  The heat is up to a balmy 45, so in my humble opinion, it is still too cold to shower even if there is hot water.  I'll give it another 10 minutes before I get up and start doing some housework - that'll at least keep me warm while the house warms up.

I may have mentioned that I have a not-quite-as-bright phone, but still, I think there ought to be an app to tell me the moment the water goes down on the boiler. Because this is just no fun.